Peanut Butter

I loved the sweet, salty creamy stuff and never ever thought about calorie, carb, fat, and sugar content. Those things didn’t matter to a whole lot of people in the late 80s through the mid 90s. Even when they did start to matter, I still stuck to Jif or even store brand peanut butter because I learned “off brand” didn’t mean it was inferior. We never bought store brand/off brand; I honestly didn’t even know it existed. Especially since we didn’t have an Albertson’s or other big name store near us and rarely did our grocery shopping at the Safeway since it was far away. No Costcos or Walmarts for many years. I was in high school when those showed up.

As I’ve gotten older and wiser and more conscious of what I’m putting into my body, I’ve started eating peanut butter that is literally two ingredients: peanuts and salt. No sugar, no fillers, no crap. The way peanut butter should be. Problem being, anything that’s organic and “whole” (not processed) comes with a pretty price tag. And while there are certain “good for you” chemical-less happy foods I’m willing to pay extra for, peanut butter is one of those things that a $5 bill doesn’t seem like it should buy with little-to-no change in return. If the ingredients are solely peanuts and salt, why can’t I make it? It can’t be that hard, right?

Holy cripes – it’s so friggin easy.

It took me less than 10 minutes to put it together, and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do it sooner. The roasted peanuts have been in the cupboard for close to a month. I guess my intense dislike of cleaning the food processor was the reason it didn’t happen until now.

I did something a little different from a standard peanut + salt recipe. A bit of honey, a bit of oil; the peanuts I was using did not produce enough of their own oil to bind properly. No amount of chopping in the food processor made them play nice with each other. The end result is this soft, creamy spread with a very light hint of honey. The honey in no way overpowers the taste of the peanuts, which is exactly the way I like it. It’s smooth enough to spread on toast or to dip apple slices in without breaking the damn fruit in half like some of the organic, limited ingredient PB out there.

I’m looking forward to a peanut butter sandwich tomorrow!

Peanut Butter

source: Apollo & Co.

Ingredients

peanuts honey vegetable oil

Directions

1. Dump peanuts in the large bowl of a food processor, close tightly, and chop for a few minutes non-stop. The peanuts will become a fine powder that slowly starts to combine.

2. Add a drizzle of oil and honey a little at a time. Continue to chop in the processor. Continue to add honey and/or oil to make the desired consistency. It really does not take much of either to combine. The more you use, the creamier it will become.

3. Scrape out into mason jars or air tight containers and store in the fridge. Since there are no preservatives, the peanut butter will spoil if left out on the container. Refrigeration will harden the peanut butter slightly, so make it a little wetter than you like it.